We Are Groot
by QueenOfPears
Summary: "We are Groot" holds true in more way than one. The newly promoted Denarian Dey makes a shocking transmission to five ex-convicts. Rocket only found one "Grootling", and just how many more there are is a mystery. The Guardians must travel the Galaxy in search of the rest of the Grootlings, or else Rocket would blast their asses off. (Rated M for violence and a lot of swearing.)
1. Water for Groots

Rhomann life was quite busy now that Nova Prime had given him a promotion from Millenian to Denarian, but at least the threat if the crazed fanatic Ronan wasn't looming over him or his family. He remembered to take the time after a long days work to talk with his wife, to play jets with his young daughter, to tell them how thankful he was to have them in his life and how much he loved them. And he did, very much so, but with so many recent deaths throughout the ranks, the Nova Corps was struggling with their current workload. He would come home tired and needed sometime to recharge, to forget about the destruction that plagued Xandar.

Botany was calming to Rhomann Dey and always had been. Plants gave him some predictability and added some much needed solitude. Some of the plants needed special care, a certain mineral added to the water, or a shadier spot then on his window, but he could water them easily enough and sort out his thoughts, and see the progress they made day by day. He loved watching them flourish and grow more vibrant. He had acquired many plants from throughout the vast Galaxy, but only one of them, sitting in the middle of his seemed not to grow; he doubted it ever would.

Groot's sacrifice rung deep in his heart. He never knew got to know the sentient humanoid plant, he'd only seen him the day he'd arrested Quill. He was big, and he was very much on the simple side, in fact he could distinctly hear Rocket, a cybernetic _something_, telling stories about what an idiot Groot was, with a sad smile on his furry face. No, Rhomann never knew Groot personally, but he gave his life protecting his captors. Groot was part of the reason his family was still alive. So, he had taken one of the branches from the crash site, and cared for it out of respect.

The soft swooshing of metal doors opening broke Rhomann out of his thoughts and brought his attention to his beautiful bright pink daughter. A big grin plastered itself on his face as he scooped up the giggling child. She liked to check in on his plants' progress every now and again, mostly because it was _their_ time together. The smiling little girl listened quietly with rapt attention as her father named the plants and what planet they were from, what properties they held, what they might look like when they grow up. The smiling duo went from plant to plant down the line before the doors opened once more to reveal his stunning wife. He set down his baby girl.

"Daddy's got to talk to Mommy for a second, okay Princess?" The adorable girl smiled and nodded to her daddy, then gazed back up to the colourful plants as her father walked out of the room with her mother. They were so pretty.

Her father walked back in only a couple minutes later to see his awestruck daughter gaze her violet eyes up at the flora. Scrutinizing the window where the plants grew he tried to see what was holding his daughter's attention. Maybe a particularly colorful flower? He knelt down to her level. "Hey Princess, what'cha lookin' at?" She glanced at him for a moment before looking up again and giggling into her hands.

"He's funny"

He? What did she mean? He looked again to where her eyes led and almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. The twig that had remained ashen and dead in its glass bowl was _waving a tiny branch hand_ and _blinking._ Well, shit.

(line)

_-uess my race is ru-n She's the best girl that I ever had, I fought the law and the- law won, I fought the law and the-_

A well built stubbly human in a red leather Ravager duster bopped his head and expressively mouthed the words to the music blasting through his no longer grimy ship. His fluffy reddish hair bounced to the beat as he scrolled through countless advertisements for odd jobs. The four and a half odd companions had almost no money between them and needed some means of getting by as their last job ended up with building being blown up before their funds could be transferred, and then later a planet nearly being destroyed. The Nova Corps had given them a second chance, and Peter Quill would rather not get arrested anytime soon (but maybe later, hey, he's the legendary _outlaw _Star-Lord, not saint.)

Most of his hodge-podge crew was asleep now, the only one awake was a hulking grey man with intricate tribal scars across his bare chest, Drax, though "awake" is a loose term, more like sleeping with his eyes open and staring into the vastness of space. Then a buzzing sound "woke" the warrior with a start.

_ I needed money 'cus I had none, I fought the la- _

Drax clamped his hand on Peter's shoulder, making the outlaw jump in his pilot's seat. "Star-Lord, your Nova friend is sending us a transmission" He boomed. Peter quickly turned off the music and tapped the translucent screen with the Denarian's face displayed. The larger screens above the friends lit up.

"Hey, Dey, man, how's it going?" Peter greeted the Corpsman with a grin

_ "Hey Quill, Drax, I hate to bother you so late, but" _Dey's face turned uneasy _"I think there may be an issue that involves you"_ Peter's face morphed into a frown.

"Woah woah woah, we haven't done anything illegal, man. I've been looking in the wanted ads for crying out loud! If something's up its not our fault" They hadn't even been near Xandar territory since Nova Prime had gifted him a new-ish Milano. However, before Peter could continue to rant Dey cut in.

_ "Its not that kind of issue, Star Prince" _he teased. He held up a glass pot filled with potting soil and a plain twig.

"I'm not following."

"Perhaps he has gone mad." Drax suggested plainly. Watching the Denarian Officer coo at the motionless stick, Peter had to agree. _Wait, was that, did that stick just yawn?_

_ "Say hello to one of the Grootlings" _Groot! Wait, didn't Rocket have Groot? Well, damn. _"I think you guys might want to come back to Xandar for a bit so I can explain."_

Drax and Peter stared unblinkingly at the screen. "Uh, yeah, we'll be there in about five hours"

_ "Great. Go ahead and park by Nova Head Quarters*, I'll meet you guys by your ship."_ And with that the curly haired man disconnected.

The duo looked at their own "Grootling" who was slumbering peacefully on the dash board of the ship. Just how many were there?

Drax turned to look at Peter, with a concerned look on his face "Which of us should inform the small angry one?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it when he wakes up, but in the mean time _you_ get to pilot, because I'm headed to bed." Peter grinned tiredly and shuffled backwards towards the ladder.

"Quill," Peter paused and sighed.

"What" Drax looked down at him with an intense gaze. Drax's brow was furrowed and he wore a slight frown. With a look like that, whatever it was he needed to ask must be important.

"Why did that man call you Star Prince?"


	2. A Tale of Two Groots

**Well I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. I'll do my best to keep this brief. I'm starting school in a week and I've got 12 hours of class and I'll probably have a ton of homework/ projects, I'm volunteering my weekends to a Halloween fair, and joy of all joys my laptop is on the fritz. As always, constructive criticism is always welcome while flames are not, feel free to message me or leave a review. – Kit**

It took Rocket all of five seconds within waking up to feel that something was off. Wiping the drool with the back of his paw, he groggily rose from his top bunk casually twitching his ears and taking a whiff of the air. It was quiet. Quill wasn't blasting his annoyingly catchy Terran music thank god. Maybe he'd finally gotten some freakin' sense in that weird human head of his...Nah, must be something else.

His curiosity got the best of him and he climbed down from the bunk bed and hit the metal floor with a soft 'plap'. He stretched some and groaned at how chilly it was, but made his way out the door and through the tunnel like hallway. The closer and closer he got to the cockpit the more muffled voices he heard.

"-lly, Peter, thats your idea? He is not one of your one night stands." Rocket rolled his eyes, she had it bad for Quill. " You can't just leave him hear with a note"

"Perhaps we should simply announce the issue at hand" The big lug's voice echoed obnoxiously in his ears. Obviously the problem had to do with him. "We can't do that!" There was Quill again.

'I'd better step in before these goons get even louder' He mumbled in his head. Quickly climbing the ladder to the cockpit like the animal he refused he was he cursed and growled. Its too damn early in the morning for all this noise.

"All right, all right, what the hell is going on in here!?"

The Guardians froze in place, but it was Quill who recovered first, although not well.

"Uuuh, nothing. There's nothing going on here. Wha- why would you think that?" he replied with the stupidest looking face. More stupid looking than usual. Rocket just raised an eyebrow at him, then looked to the other tall people.

"It's about G-" Gamora slapped her green hand over Drax's mouth before he could finish his sentance.

"We have something that you should see" Gamora said while nodding her head in the direction of the ship's screens, still clamping her palm over Drax's face. Quill nervously looked at her before whatever she was hinting at clicked in his head.

"Oh, right" He turned and walked to the controls for the comm. unit. "I usually end up recording all my calls, for uh- well you know what, its not important, but check out this message" The holographic screen sputtered out light until a picture of some Nova corpsman was flickering in the air.

Gamora had finally released the giant muscle- head. "You might want to seat yourself, friend."

Quill hit 'Play'.

A stunned raccoon stared blankly at the screen as the others trained their eyes on him. A snarled appeared on his face and he whipped his head around to the front of the ship to where a tin pot held a tiny Groot. He stomped angrily towards the sentient plant baby.

"Did you know about this?"

The baby Grootling waved his tiny hands in front of him. He couldn't talk yet, but they all knew that he was trying to indicate that he didn't know about it, and even if he could talk all he would be able to say was "I am Groot."

Rocket tugged at his ears "I can't freaking believe this." He grated out. They needed a plan of action to sort this out, but his head was too muddled to come up with one. First Groot "dies", then he lives again, and now there's another Groot? He needed some booze. He really really needed some booze. He groaned into his hands then massaged his aching head.

The rest of the crew looked sympathetically at him, not really knowing what to say. Drax put a heavy palm on Rocket's head and they all migrated into their respective seats. They had a long journey ahead of them, and a lot to think about. It was best to get to Xandar as soon and smoothly as possible.

Music suddenly blared around them and Peter danced in his seat.

"Oh come on, Quill!" Rocket and Peter commenced their usual bickering with a clueless comment thrown in from Drax every now and then.

Gamora smirked to herself. '_And to think I was willing to fight and die for these fools._"

It took twelve Terran hours to get to Xandar, and there were two hours left. The bickering got old fast and Gamora was now nursing a giant headache and murderous thoughts. She may have hated killing for her kidnapper, but she would gladly kill again to shut her new friends up. Drax was taking her shift and nodded to her, keeping his distance. She practically stalked out of the cockpit and into her room below deck.

Drax himself grew tired of their constant arguing, but he was not about to draw his finger across his throat to them. He still did not grasp most of Quill's strange idioms, or Rocket's insults, but he was content with knowing that they were a team, and should they find themselves in trouble that they would "have his back."

Rocket managed to "convince" Peter at gun point to turn of the music for the rest of the trip about an hour ago when they went to bed, and The Destroyer was reveling in the silence, though it would not last long. They were nearly to Xandar, he could view the planet in the distance. He decided to call into Nova to see where he should park the newly built Milano. One call and half an hour later he was landing on next to Nova Headquarters.

"Friends, we have landed. You must awaken now" Drax's voice boomed over the intercom to each of the sleeping pods. One by one they made their way out of the retro spacecraft and onto the landing pad surface. The sun was only just beginning to make an appearance across the surface of the ground and the sky was still tinged pink.

Among the soft glare of the sun they noticed some figures walking towards them. It was time to meet with Denarian Dey and get this whole mess sorted out.


End file.
